The use of wireless communication devices is ever increasing as a means for providing communication services and information to people on the go outside the home and office. These wireless communication devices include, for example, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), satellite telephones, portable telephones, Internet telephones, wireless communication devices/radios, personal computers (PCs), and similar devices that provide wireless access to voice and data communications. As a result of the proliferation of these wireless communication devices, numerous voice and data services have been made available to consumers, many of which are offered under an almost infinite number of different service plans provided by a large number of different service providers and/or system operators.
As an example, an individual might use a cellular telephone that operates to provide wireless access to voice communications and text messages under a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) service plan along with a portable computer or PDA that operates to provide wireless access to data via a network like the Internet using Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) services and technology provided under a different plan and/or service provider. As a consequence of the large numbers of services provided by most service providers, there is a need to integrate access to services like GSM and WiFi to make it easy for subscribers to access and be billed for the services.
Typically the integration of GSM and WiFi wireless local area network (WLAN) (WiFi WLAN) services by a service provider or system operator required the use of a custom client on the user's wireless device, where the custom client is coupled to a physical data Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card which is a second SIM card of the device. In operation, authentication of the data SIM card was carried out by the client against information of a network signal gateway. The system configuration that supported this integration, therefore, was complex in that it required the use of the second SIM card (the GSM also uses a SIM card) and a complex authentication process involving transactions among the data SIM card, the custom client of the wireless device, a network gateway, and one or more other network components.
The typical GSM and WiFi service integration currently in use has a roaming user entering his/her telephone number during a WiFi login session and, in response to receipt of the telephone number, completes the login process by sending the user a personal identification number (PIN) via the user's mobile device or handset. This approach to service integration, however, results in a billing relationship between the WiFi service provider and the user's home service provider or operator rather than between the WiFi service provider and the visited network service provider in which the user is roaming. Consequently, the current attempts to integrate GSM and WiFi services result in lost revenue opportunities for the network in which the user is roaming.
In the drawings, the same reference numbers identify identical or substantially similar elements or acts. To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, the most significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to the Figure number in which that element is first introduced (e.g., element 102 is first introduced and discussed with respect to FIG. 1).